Great Escapes: Melbourne, the Southern Hemisphere’s Capital of Cool

By

Eric Grossman

Dec. 28, 2018 2:26 p.m. ET

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Crown Melbourne and the city skyline at night.
Josie Withers/Visit Victoria

By

Eric Grossman

Dec. 28, 2018 2:26 p.m. ET

With its vibrant cultural and culinary scenes, Australia’s second city of Melbourne no longer takes a back seat to Sydney. A growing number of international visitors can be found exploring Melbourne’s laneways, home to world-class street art and an equally impressive variety of stylish, trend-setting businesses. Yet the city in no way feels touristy.

Melbourne's population—nearing the 5 million mark—is growing faster than Sydney’s, with creative types arriving in droves to Australia’s cultural capital. Some of the Southern Hemisphere's highest-rated restaurants can be found here, and myriad destination wineries are located a short drive away.

The state of Victoria’s capital is well-positioned along Port Phillip Bay; renowned highlights such as the Great Ocean Road and Mornington Peninsula can be enjoyed as a day trip, though both are worthy of dedicated visits.

STAY

Jet-setters visiting Melbourne have been raving about one of the newest additions to the city’s hotel scene, United Places Botanic Gardens. Featuring a dozen stunning suites, the property—located across from the city’s beloved Royal Botanic Gardens—is a collaborative result between tastemakers in the fields of architecture, interiors, and design. Half the rooms overlook the gardens, while the others offer views of heritage buildings, and the property is studded with thoughtful design touches, including specially-commissioned pieces by local artists.

QT—perhaps Australia’s most buzzed-about boutique hotel brand—waited years to open its first Melbourne property. Conveniently located in the city’s Central Business District, QT Melbourne is housed in a former cinema, and, like its sister properties, offers colorful, sensory-overloading environs complete with neon sculptures and video art. Guest rooms feature timber floorboards, concrete ceilings, and wickedly comfortable beds topped with gel-pads. There’s a “secret garden” on the rooftop, providing guests with exclusive, garden-to-table culinary experiences.

Luxury travelers often flock to Crown Towers Melbourne, the most high-end of the three hotels at Crown Melbourne, one of the largest casino complexes in the world. Guests of the Crown Towers enjoy easy access to the 220,000-square-foot spread, meaning they can check out some of the city’s biggest names in shopping (Louis Vuitton, Prada, Bvlgari) and dining (Dinner by Heston Blumenthal, Nobu Melbourne) without stepping outside.

Degraves Street is just one of many laneways in Melbourne's CBD.
Ray Reyes/Visit Victoria

DINE

Melbourne proudly stands toe-to-toe with the world’s great gastronomic destinations. And while the city offers plenty by way of splurge-worthy fine dining, where it really shines is in its seemingly endless supply of trend-setting mixologists, brewers, roasters, food producers, and café owners.

Widely recognized as one of the best places to drink coffee in the world, the city’s coffee shops and cafes are packed with Melburnians year-round, even in the sweltering summers. Young, creative operators are frequently turning neglected spaces into buzzy wine bars, hidden cocktail dens, and inventive pop-up spaces. Wine lovers revel in the world-class wines—many of which can’t be found beyond Australia—produced nearby; Victoria is home to 21 distinct wine regions containing more than 850 wineries.

Gourmands from near and far make the pilgrimage to suburban Ripponlea for Attica, where chef/owner Ben Shewry oversees what is consistently rated as Australia’s best restaurant. As with many bucket-list culinary destinations, Attica offers more than a gourmet dining experience; Shewry and his team follow an impassioned commitment to previously overlooked Australian recipes and ingredients such as saltbush leaves, bunya nuts, yam daisy, and marron (crayfish).

Vue de monde is one of the city’s most lauded restaurants—the dining room, which features kangaroo skin-covered tables, offers gorgeous views from its position on the 55th floor of the iconic Rialto Tower. Shannon Bennett’s creative, French-inspired tasting menus incorporate locally sourced ingredients as well as upscale takes on humble Australian favorites, such as damper (soda bread) and the classic lamington dessert.

Melbourne also offers several unique restaurants that leave patrons feeling positive about their dining choices. Charcoal Lane is a social enterprise where the kitchen, which supports an apprentice and trainee program for disadvantaged Aboriginal youth, churns out upscale, Aboriginal-inspired fare (roast emu fillet, pumpkin and wattleseed gnocchi, kangaroo smoked over paperbark). Dans le Noir? offers a social experiment by way of public dining, in which patrons sit in total darkness—without knowing their fellow diners—while being guided by visually-impaired waiters. Without being able to see what they’re eating, diners are forced to reevaluate everything they think they know about flavor, form, and texture, all while helping to provide employment opportunities for the staff. Health-minded diners head to suburban Burnley to visit Serotonin Eatery, where the plant-based food and drinks are designed to release serotonin, a chemical responsible for maintaining mood balance. In addition to the restaurant, the holistic-based concept offers an exercise center as well as an education platform.

DRINK

Libation lovers make pilgrimages to Melbourne due to the presence of some of the world’s most lauded cocktail bars. Since its opening in 2002, Black Pearl has been an annual mainstay on the World’s 50 Best Bars list. Located in the always-buzzing Fitzroy neighborhood, the family-owned bar has been at the forefront of cocktail innovation and customer service, not only becoming the pace-setter of the Australian bar scene but a key participant in international cocktail conventions. Also in Fitzroy is The Everleigh, a descendant of New York City’s groundbreaking, now-closed Milk & Honey. After entering through a diner and walking down a dimly-lit hallway, patrons discover a classy cocktail den complete with hexagonal mirrored tables and velvet armchairs.

Tucked away in the CBD’s Malthouse Lane, Eau de Vie is inspired by 1920s prohibition America. Hidden behind a bookcase, patrons discover a whisky room that’s home to a large collection of rare and exclusive labels, as well as bottle lockers for aficionados wanting to store their big-ticket purchases for future visits. There’s also a library space with a special table where five-course, cocktail degustation experiences are offered.

Melbourne’s annual event calendar firmly places it on the shortlist of the world’s best cities for sports, entertainment, and culture. Sporting fans circle their calendars every January for tennis (Australian Open); March for Formula 1 (Australian Grand Prix); September for Aussie Rules Football (Australia’s single biggest sporting event, the AFL Grand Final); and November for horse racing (Melbourne Cup, a.k.a. “the race that stops a nation”). Next year will be an extra-busy sports year, as the 13th edition of the Presidents Cup golf tournament will be held at Royal Melbourne Golf Club in December.

Culture vultures look forward to annual highlights, such as the Melbourne International Comedy Festival (March-April), one of the world’s largest and most respected, with 6,500 performances by 2,000-plus artists; the Melbourne International Jazz Festival (June), which features more than 500 international and Australian artists; and the Melbourne International Arts Festival (October), Australia’s premier cultural celebration during which 1,000 artists from more than 20 countries participate in dance, theater, music, visual arts, multimedia, and outdoor events.

Melbourne hosts one of the highest densities of commercial art galleries in the world, not to mention status as the Southern Hemisphere’s leading street art city because of the labyrinthian laneways that double as open-air galleries, free and open to the public at all hours. At night, the city hosts more than 3,000 live music performances weekly.

The city also features an impressive collection of public markets. A staple of the city dating back to 1878, the 17-acre Queen Victoria Market is the largest open-air market in the Southern Hemisphere. While scores of vendors sell clothing, imported goods, and handmade arts and crafts, the market is best known for its food stands, most famously the American Doughnut Kitchen, a humble van that has been cranking out hot jam donuts since 1950. The South Melbourne Market (1867), the city’s longest continually running market, features nearly 150 unique stalls, including an assortment of award-winning, specialty food producers. Smaller but no less impressive, the Prahran Market—one of the world’s great foodie markets—is famous for its fine fresh produce, commitment to certified organic and sustainable products, and collection of hard-to-find, gourmet comestibles.

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